As DC United welcomed Wayne Rooney to Audi Field on Saturday against the Vancouver Whitecaps, it took just two touches for his brilliance to be displayed.
The anticipation was palpable prior to Saturday night’s opening of Audi Field. DC United had been waiting patiently for their new home. It was a journey over a decade in the making and this was the celebration they were waiting for.
The atmosphere was raucous, with fans desperate for a turning point in a season that had slighted their quality with a series of unrewarded performances. This, they believed, would be it. And then, when it was announced that Wayne Rooney’s debut would be that day, there was no belief about it. This was the night on which DC’s season would change.
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Whether that is the case or not remains to be seen. But the 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps did display several signs that perhaps suggest that this seemingly disastrous campaign is still salvageable. The most prominent of those signs was the brilliance of Rooney, illustrated in just two, unspectacularly exquisite touches.
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Rooney started on the bench. Not surprising for a player who has not played a minute of competitive since mid-May. It is not easy being thrust into a game of fully match-sharp players cold-legged. And that is what Rooney would have been suffering had he started, alongside dealing with the usual new-club nerves that come with any high-profile transfer, intensified by the baying expectation and opening of a new stadium.
When he was introduced in the second half, the game was still somewhat in the balance. DC had probably enjoyed the better of the match, but they held just a slender one-goal lead. Vancouver were far from out of it. That was until Rooney, in two subtle and so easily overlooked moments, changed the game.
It was only two one-touch passes. It would have been easy to ignore them. They don’t look very hard. Technically, they’re not very hard, not for a player of Rooney’s quality and experienced, anyway. But it is in the creativity, the vision, the pre-planning that Rooney’s skill comes to the fore.
To pass the ball first-time, you have to know what you are going to do with the ball before you receive it. That means that you must have surveyed the field, read where the defenders are and will be in a second or so’s time, recognise where the space is, anticipate which teammate is the best to pass to, all before executing the action of actually passing the ball.
The first instigated the lovely, flowing move that led to Paul Arriola’s first goal. The play was slow and lethargic until a pass was laid into Rooney’s feet. With his back to the goal and a defender immediately behind him, Rooney played a simple pass inside. It quickened the tempo of the move and birthed the collective, cohesive attack.
The second came later in the move: Rooney again had his back to the goal, but in choosing to play the ball first time, he gave Arriola, this time his direct target, space and time on the ball, so much so that the midfielder could take a touch to his right and then fire a low shot into the far bottom corner.
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These may seem like simple moments. And they are, really. But it is in their simplicity that the scintillation of Rooney’s play comes to the fore. He plays simply, quickly and accurately. In just two touches, his brilliance was so brilliantly displayed.